iPad Air - Wifi or Cellular?

[r32gtr]

Should i get the cellular or wifi from the UK before coming to Singapore. What is the wifi connectivity like outside of homes?

[nakatago]

Should i get the cellular or wifi from the UK before coming to Singapore. What is the wifi connectivity like outside of homes?

Horrible. But the question is, why do you need to use your iPad outside your home, how often, where will you use it and how much are you willing to spend for it? The answer to those questions will help you decide. That, and the knowledge that you can use your phone as a wifi hotspot.

[r32gtr]

Nakatago thanks for your reply. I guess i keep forgetting that distance is much less in singapore than london. Main use outside home i guess would be commuting or inbetween meetings.

Totally forgot about tethering the phone. Are the data packages big enough to allow for us to do this

[zzm9980]

Should i get the cellular or wifi from the UK before coming to Singapore. What is the wifi connectivity like outside of homes?

Buy it in Singapore when you get here. Our GST is much lower than UK VAT. Or best, buy it at an Apple Store in Hong Kong. No GST/VAT. After currency conversions, they have the lowest prices of new Apple gear anywhere in the world.

[zzm9980]

Nakatago thanks for your reply. I guess i keep forgetting that distance is much less in singapore than london. Main use outside home i guess would be commuting or inbetween meetings.

Totally forgot about tethering the phone. Are the data packages big enough to allow for us to do this

There is public wifi, Wireless@SG, but it is beyond useless. More than half the time it will fail to work (DHCP won't give you an IP). And the rare occasion when it does, it often drops after 10 minutes.

Standard LTE data plans for the phone are 3GB quotes per month. Or, you can buy a pre-paid LTE SIM from M1. It gives you for 1GB of data for 30 days for S$18. The 30 days means whatever you don't use is lost, but if you renew before it expires unused data rolls over.

[nakatago]

Nakatago thanks for your reply. I guess i keep forgetting that distance is much less in singapore than london. Main use outside home i guess would be commuting or inbetween meetings.

Totally forgot about tethering the phone. Are the data packages big enough to allow for us to do this

Some thoughts:
* I tried using a tablet during my commute (for offline reading). The crowding made me stop it as I couldn't hold my tablet away enough from my face to read.
* Data allowances--check starhub, singtel, m1. Still depends on your usage.
* To figure out how much you'll actually need, you can try using apps that monitor your data usage per app. Android does it for you natively; I don't know about iOS or Windows.

[r32gtr]

Thanks again for the replies, i did consider buying it when we arrive however we have lots of vouchers from our wedding for a department store and that seemed the best option to spend it on. Whats the rough cost of a 16gb one over there?

Will look into the mobile providers as well.

[nakatago]

Thanks again for the replies, i did consider buying it when we arrive however we have lots of vouchers from our wedding for a department store and that seemed the best option to spend it on. Whats the rough cost of a 16gb one over there?

Will look into the mobile providers as well.

Go online and make sure the country code is for Singapore like so:

http://store.apple.com/sg?

If it's feasible enough, I think it's better you use those vouchers for things you won't be able to buy in Singapore for a reasonable price but would very much want to use. There will be plenty, if you dig around for those posts about what people miss from their home country. For example, clothes that fit your build, undergarments for the wife, certain foodstuffs, etc.

[zzm9980]

Android does it for you natively; I don't know about iOS or Windows.

ios7 does too, and lets you turn off data usage per-app.

[r32gtr]

works out about 50-70 GBP cheaper so thanks for the advice.

[nakatago]

Android does it for you natively; I don't know about iOS or Windows.

ios7 does too, and lets you turn off data usage per-app.

Huh. Android can restrict data usage per app as well too. I wasn't so sure so I checked. I haven't seen it as my mobile habits only sip data and haven't had to turn off data usage for some apps.

I found it eerie looking at a screen on my phone I didn't recognize--and I fiddled with my phone's screens a lot.

[x9200]

* Data allowances--check starhub, singtel, m1. Still depends on your usage.

There are some that don't. I am on some kind of package from starhub that comes with unlimited data mobile BB. The trick is, it's slow (1Mb or so), but I am perfectly fine with it. No problem with reading e-mails or web browsing.

[zzm9980]

Android does it for you natively; I don't know about iOS or Windows.

ios7 does too, and lets you turn off data usage per-app.

Huh. Android can restrict data usage per app as well too.

Yeah, Android is more granular I believe. I think you can restrict for mobile or wifi, and only when you hit a pre-set cap. You can also easily turn off all background usage at once where iOS would require you to toggle a bunch of stuff.

But then Android being Android, this is what I see on my Galaxy Nexus with 4.3 Who knows what other users with different models or different OSes see.

[aster]

Should i get the cellular or wifi from the UK before coming to Singapore. What is the wifi connectivity like outside of homes?

Buy it in Singapore when you get here. Our GST is much lower than UK VAT. Or best, buy it at an Apple Store in Hong Kong. No GST/VAT. After currency conversions, they have the lowest prices of new Apple gear anywhere in the world.

GST alone doesn't make a difference for many products. I could buy anything from a tv to M&S clothes cheaper in a country with 3x higher GST then over here.

If the OP will be in Australia in the near future then I think that would be the best place to pick up an iPad as a tourist.

Just to take the 64GB iPad Air for comparison purposes (all prices converted to S$):
- Singapore: S$1,148
- HK: S$1,050
- Australia: $1,087

As a tourist you can get the 10% GST back, so the Australian price will ultimately be around $988.

[zzm9980]

Should i get the cellular or wifi from the UK before coming to Singapore. What is the wifi connectivity like outside of homes?

Buy it in Singapore when you get here. Our GST is much lower than UK VAT. Or best, buy it at an Apple Store in Hong Kong. No GST/VAT. After currency conversions, they have the lowest prices of new Apple gear anywhere in the world.

GST alone doesn't make a difference for many products. I could buy anything from a tv to M&S clothes cheaper in a country with 3x higher GST then over here.

No, but we're talking about iPads from Apple, not TVs or something from M&S. In this case, it is.

If the OP will be in Australia in the near future then I think that would be the best place to pick up an iPad as a tourist.

Just to take the 64GB iPad Air for comparison purposes (all prices converted to S$):
- Singapore: S$1,148
- HK: S$1,050
- Australia: $1,087

As a tourist you can get the 10% GST back, so the Australian price will ultimately be around $988.

That's an awfully big (and expensive) 'if', and he'd throw away any money he saved on GST if he has anything at all to eat while in Australia. True though that he may not be going to Hong Kong. I don't usually count GST/VAT refund schemes in the total cost. I suppose if OP wants to, make sure to know exactly how it works before hand and make sure you have all of the paperwork and do it right.